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Has anyone here looked into an "Early College HIgh School" for their gifted kids? The initiative allows kids to compress high school and an associate's degree into 4 years in a small high school setting--no more than 100 per class. Their website says that they focus on minority students and other people who have not had great access to college. Re gifted and talented the website says:

"As with many innovative educational pathways to a high school degree and beyond, early college high school is appropriate for a wide variety of young people. The partners in the initiative believe that encountering the rigor, depth, and intensity of college work at an earlier age inspires average, underachieving, and well-prepared high school students. However, the small schools being created through the Early College High School Initiative focus on students for whom a smooth transition into postsecondary education is now problematic."

My DD10 does not fit their target audience (non-minority, not academically disadvantaged). Our local early college charter school is adding a middle school. I'm would like her to take a look at it for next year. The website turned her off but the concept seems like a great fit for gifties. Anyone had any experience?

This sounds like the same sort of school my DS7 is attending. It is considered a chartered prep school as it covers 6th - 12th grade. It is on the college campus and allows for dual enrollment as soon as the student is ready. The kids that have graduated in the last two years have done so with between 50-65 college credits.

My DS loves it. There has not been one issue with bullying or anything else. Unlike every other school i've been involved with, there seems to be no drama at all. My son says it's because the entire school is full of nerds! It is very demanding academically and at least for mine, it's wonderful.

Does anyone have any experience with how colleges look at students who graduate from HS with a large amount of college credits? Students who could actually be classified as Sophmores or even Juniors? We have an University nearby that actually has a HS as part of it. When the students graduate from HS, they actually have 50-60 credits of college classes. Obviously going to that Universtiy would probably not be an issue at all. But what about Ivy League or for that matter any other colleges? Would that make them look more or less favorably upon child applying for admission. My DS will be starting HS next year and I'm already starting to stress about where will be the best places for him to apply to school.

When I attended an Ivy (many years ago), they did not accept the college credits. They had a requirement for tuition credits, so that you still needed to pay for/attend for 4 years. The college-level classes taken in high school were used for placement out of some of the lower level classes.

My DS attends a high school with a similar set-up. He is a senior and will be graduating with 50-60 university credits under his belt. In researching and applying to colleges he's found that how his previous college classes are viewed depends greatly on the policy of the college and whether he wants to receive credit or placement for the classes he's already taken. So, as you look toward high school with your DS there are a number of things to take into consideration.

First, will your son's credits be earned through dual enrollment classes (that is, will he earn both HS and college credit for them)? If he does not, graduating with 50-60 college credits will probably classify him as a transfer student, not a freshman. If that's the case, each college he is applying to will look at his transcript and decide which of his credits it will accept. It's not really a problem, if he's okay with skipping the first year or so of college classes. Also keep in mind that that there are usually less transfer spots available and often there aren't as many readily available scholarship opportunities.

On the other hand, if they are going to be dual enrollment credits, there'll be no worries, because they won't count as college credits for admissions purposes (and he'll still be considered a freshman after HS graduation). In such a scenario, the college credits your DS earns during high school will most likely be counted for placement not for credit. So if he's already taken English 101, he won't have to take it again when he gets to college, but he won't get to count the 3 credits he earned from taking it during high school towards his college degree requirements either.

There are schools that will grant credit, as well as placement, for dual enrollment classes, but each school has its own policy. For the most part, though, the Ivies do not accept dual enrollment credits (or AP/IB credits, for that matter). At less competitive schools, he will probably find that a number of his credits will transfer (though each school usually does have a limit as to how many credits you can bring with you, so he might find that he can't bring all of them).

Either way I don't really see the credits as being a problem. If he does well in college classes during high school all it will do is prove that he's capable of succeeding in college-level courses in a college atmosphere, which is one of the things the admissions folks are looking for. Of course, if he has his heart set on bringing all those credits with him when he goes off to college, his best bet will be at the university at which they were earned.

wow

Dorothy,
There are two issues: admissions and transferability of credits. For admissions it is looked upon favorably assuming the student has done well in the courses. What colleges want to see is that students have made the best of the options available to them. They need to show they sought out challenge and did well with that challenge. There is not one way to do this, but lots of ways and sure early college classes are one good path. So, I see benefits for admissions and no downsides.

If your student is looking at highly selective colleges, I would start from the assumption that the dual enrollment credits will not be accepted for transfer credits. Generally this level of colleges will consider courses that were taken for high school credit to be high school work and not equivalent of the level of difficulty of comparable courses at their college. So, at these types of schools your student will likely be still starting as a freshman. They may be willing to take some of the credits for placement purposes (like entering into Calc III instead of repeating Calc II). You may get lucky and some credits will be accepted, but I'd consider that a bonus not something to expect.

Of course your student will always have the option of staying at the local university if they are enjoying it and want to finish college earlier. The other thing to always remember is that it is not just what gets a kid into college, but what makes them successful there. Having a happy high school experience is important - if dual enrollment makes a kid happy that's worth a lot. Also, students who have taken dual enrollment classes or taken on other challenging options have a chance to work on the skills it takes to be really successful at college.

Sorry Knute didn't mean to hijack your thread. It was just something I was curious about considering we are looking at a school that offers this opportunity. Thanks to everyone who replied. The abundance of great information on this site is amazing. Things I would have never thought about.

No worries. I think that I got my answer too.